Today the problem of disposing of waste materials particularly waste material of the type which is generally deposited at landfill waste management sites has become more acute.
Typically this waste material is household garbage, and non-toxic industrial and commercial waste such as wood, concrete, paper, food, glass, metals, old furniture, etc. These waste materials are collected and transported usually by truck or barge to a land fill site outside of the town or city limits.
Once at the landfill site the waste materials may be segregated somewhat to remove large metal objects, concrete and the like from the rest of the material. The remainder of the waste material is then usually simply covered over with earth and buried. In some locations where burning is allowed those items which may be burned are and the rest of the waste material is buried.
Many landfill sites are presently experiencing the problem of having to deal with too much waste material too quickly and are running out of available land to do so. As well the current method of simply burying the waste material under a layer of earth does not lead to the existence of the proper conditions for the natural break down of the organic component of the waste, and therefore the waste material does not break down. This contributes to the problem of land usage since land previously used for landfill cannot be reused in a reasonable length of time. This can result in increased costs due to the need to purchase additional land as the landfill becomes full.
The burning of some of the waste can help reduce the amount of waste material in a landfill site but this is prohibited by law in many places where air quality is a concern. This also does not allow for the recycling of any of the waste material which is burned.
A process for reducing waste material at a landfill waste management site is needed which reduces the volume of waste material in the landfill site, allows for the natural breakdown of the organic components of the waste material, and which allows for the recycling of some or all of the waste material.